CLINICAL PRESENTATION AND LABORATORY FIND INGS OF CEREBRAL MALARIA INA GROUP OF CHILDREN IN YAOUNDE, CAMEROON

Cerebral malaria is one of the major and deadly complications of malar ia. In Cameroon, recent reports indicate that severe cases of malaria are increasingly more prevalent, particularly in children. The present study aims at describing the clinical presentation and laboratory fin dings of cerebral malaria in children in Yaounde. All patients admitte d in the paediatric ward of Yaounde Central Hospital with malaria, who presented neurological signs and were tested positive for Plasmodium in their peripheral blood were recruited into the study. 36 cases were enrolled in all, making up 2.7% of all admissions. The patients' medi an age was 4.5 years. 52.8% were on malaria prophylaxis. Convulsions a nd coma with preceding hyperthermia were present in more than 90% of t he patients. Blood paramsites level median was 1.3% on admission. One patient had hypoglycaemia on admission and two others had it later on after admission; 16.7% had neurological sequels at discharge and two c hildren died (5.6%). Delay in diagnosis and initiation of treatment wi th quinine adversely affected the prognosis of cerebral malaria in the study group.